Olympic Athlete Doping Scandals: Past and Present

Olympic Doping: Past and Present

Lance Armstrong of team Radioshack waves to fans after the twentieth and final stage of Le Tour de France 2010, from Longjumeau to the Champs-Elysees in Paris on July 25, 2010 in Paris, France. The International Olympic Committee stripped the American rider of the bronze medal after he admitted to doping.

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Olympic Doping: Past and Present

Lance Armstrong of team Radioshack waves to fans after the twentieth and final stage of Le Tour de France 2010, from Longjumeau to the Champs-Elysees in Paris on July 25, 2010 in Paris, France. The International Olympic Committee stripped the American rider of the bronze medal after he admitted to doping.

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Olympic Athlete Doping Scandals Past and Present

Of the 10,500 athletes competing in the 2012 London Olympics, nearly half of them, including each medal winner, will be tested for 240 banned substances. American judo fighter Nicholas Delpopolo, 23, was expelled from the Olympics on Aug. 6 for failing a drug test, which he said was caused by mistakenly eating something that had been baked with pot.

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Olympic Athlete Doping Scandals Past and Present

A team of about 1,000 people working in a laboratory in London are processing athletes' blood and urine samples to test for doping. Luiza Galiulina, Uzbekistan's only gymnast competing in the 2012 Olympics, was expelled from the Games after her "B" sample tested positive for the banned substance fuorsemide, the International Olympic Committee announced on Aug. 1.

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Olympic Athlete Doping Scandals Past and Present

Brazilian rower Kissya Cataldo da Costa, who was making her Olympics debut at the 2012 London Games, was suspended after failing a drug test. The Associated Press reported that the 21-year-old withdrew from her single sculls event on Aug. 4 because of the suspension.

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Olympic Athlete Doping Scandals Past and Present

Colombian 400-meter runner Diego Palomeque, 18, was provisionally suspended from the 2012 Olympics in London after testing positive for testosterone on July 26 and did not start his scheduled heat on Aug. 4, the Associated Press reported.

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Olympic Athlete Doping Scandals Past and Present

Belarus' Ivan Tsikhan, a three-time world champion hammer thrower, was kicked out of the 2012 London Olympics on Aug. 3 after the IOC found his doping samples from the 2004 Athens Games to be positive, ESPN reported. Tsikhan, 36, who won the silver medal in Athens, had been stripped of the bronze medal he won in the 2008 Beijing Games after testing positive for abnormal levels of testosterone.

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Olympic Athlete Doping Scandals Past and Present

Russian track cyclist Victoria Baranova, 22, was barred from the 2012 Olympics after testing positive for testosterone on July 24 in Ratomka, Belarus, the Associated Press reported. Baranova had won a bronze medal at the European championships.

Olympic Athlete Doping Scandals Past and Present

Olympic Athlete Doping Scandals Past and Present

American track and field star LaShawn Merritt, 26, won a gold medal for the 400-meter race at the 2008 Beijing Games before he was slapped with a 21-month doping ban. AP reported that the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the highest court in sports, overturned the IOC ban in 2011, allowing Merritt to compete in the London Games. Expected to medal, the sprinter suffered a hamstring injury on Aug. 4.

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Olympic Athlete Doping Scandals Past and Present

Doping offender Dwain Chambers, 34, made his first Olympics debut in 12 years at the 2012 London Games and won his 100-meter heat on Aug. 4. The British sprinter was handed a lifetime ban for doping after competing in the 2000 Sydney Games, but the Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned the ban in May.

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Olympic Athlete Doping Scandals Past and Present

Another doping offender Justin Gatlin, 30, also made an impressive Olympics comeback in London after serving a four-year doping ban, taking bronze in the 100-meter race on Aug. 6. The American sprinter, who had won gold at the 2004 Athens games, was forced to sit out of the 2008 Games in Beijing.

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Olympic Athlete Doping Scandals Past and Present

American track and field Olympian Marion Jones pled guilty in October 2007 to lying to a federal investigator about using steroids and was sentenced to six months in prison in January 2008. The following year, the IOC reallocated the three gold and two bronze medals Jones won at the 2000 Sydney Games, ESPN reported.

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Olympic Athlete Doping Scandals Past and Present

Irish swimmer Michelle Smith won four medals at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta but was later barred from competing in future Games after testing positive for performance enhancing drugs.

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Olympic Athlete Doping Scandals Past and Present

American track cyclist Pat McDonough, pictured here third from the left, won a silver medal in the Team Pursuit at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, but later admitted to "blood doping" during the competition.